


Pirate Queen of the Cosmos

by ImperfectSilence



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Lawless - Freeform, Spectre - Freeform, biotics are influenced by emotion, buerocracy is for the dead and dying, is court martial really a vacation?, reaper slayer 2.0, steamrolling shepard, there are less bullets involved, vanguard of your destruction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 03:24:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectSilence/pseuds/ImperfectSilence
Summary: Shepard surrendered to the Alliance after going through the Omega-4 relay. She did so on the assumption that the Alliance had taken her seriously and believed that te Reapers were coming. When she learned otherwise, Shepard could no longer stay on vacation in her cell. There was work to be done, and a galaxy to defend.
Kudos: 1





	Pirate Queen of the Cosmos

**Author's Note:**

> Happy N7 Day!!

“You could still do it, you know. Turn Pirate queen. We could rule the fucking galaxy. With this ship, and the crew, you’d take them by storm. They’re loyal to you, you know. The crew. They’ll follow you wherever you lead them. Cerberus was nice to give you a whole bunch of easy to manipulate people, ripe to be tucking in a row. Like ducks.”

“Are you including yourself in that summary?” Shepard asked.

“Maybe.” Jack scowled.

“I think you are. You want it. You’d like if I turned pirate, wouldn’t you?” Shepard teases. Jack growls back. “But we have a mission, have responsibilities. The Alliance and Hacket are-“

Jack roars, biotics flaring and flips the cot.

Jack was whipping herself into a fury, cerulean glow rising and pulsating across her skin as her biotics were pulled to bear. All too quickly Shepard reached out with her own biotics and lashed down. Shepard smothered the woman’s rage with her own, forcing her down and still. ““It rankles you that I’m stronger than you and yet I roll over for weaker men. You can’t understand why I bother. If I’m the strongest, why would I go limp for them? Remember this, I’m stronger than you. Stronger, smarter, and better trained. My advice?” Shepard leaned close and whispered in Jack’s ear. _“If I ever do ‘break loose’? Go limp.” _

Shepard whirled away and flew up the stairs, the violet glow of her biotics receding. Jack relaxed, her muscles unclenching. She leaned back and smirked, ignoring the sticky wetness between her thighs, confident that she had really ruffled some feathers.

* * *

It was later, much later that she looked back and realized what a moment that had been. Jack had thought she lost that verbal spar, had been dismissed and defeated. But, as the newsheadline rolled across the bottom of the vid screen, her fingers went slack and her glass shattered on the floor.

**ALERT: Commander Shepard Breaks out of Prison, steals back Normandy.**

* * *

The corridors were rolling with smoke, guards choking and coughing on the thick clouds. The grenade was Turian sourced and utilized chemicals and concentrates native to Palaven. Meaning, the smoke was Levo based, and provoked at least some allergic reaction out of the Alliance guards. Shepard, who passed N7 training with flying colors, breezed through the clouds, leaving a trail of unconscious guards in her wake.

They hadn’t listened. After all she did, after all of the proof she brought, after everything, they made a committee. A fucking panel of three who hadn’t seen a battlefield since the relays had been discovered. A tribunal to debate and discuss, to hem and haw over whether or not Shepard had been lying to them. And their conclusion; they believed in the reapers, yes. But an imminent threat? No. With Shepard having destroyed the Alpha relay, the reaper invasion had to be delayed by a significant factor. They decided a decade setback was a conservative estimate.

An entire fucking decade. Did the council fucking skip the section about how the Reapers started in goddamn Dark Space? The distance from the edge of Dark Space to the Behak system alone was immense, and Behak wasn’t that far out from other relays. That ‘decision’ took command three months to decide. In Shepard’s mind, that was three months wasted. Three months where she sat in a cell, admittedly comfortable, safe knowing that even if the Council wasn’t preparing for the Reapers, at least the Alliance was. And then she gets that fucking piece of bullshit dropped in her lap.

It was almost too easy to break out. Bless his heart, Anderson just trusted her too much to think she’d use him. And she did feel bad about it, but he was the best resource for her, and she’d been trained too thoroughly to not use it. She’d make it up to him, she promised. He trusted her implicitly. And she abused that trust wholeheartedly.

He found Ash for her and got her close- positioned as a consultant for debriefing and interrogating. You can’t really get much closer without sharing a damn cell, which would not have worked for her plan. What in retrospect was terrifying was how easily Ash turned. Scarily, Ash took very little convincing at all. If Cerberus had approached her during the time of the SR1, before the Normandy found the experiments, Ash might have been tempted to go that route. She was fed up with red tape, fed up with being held back because of her name, and tired of taking orders from people who just didn’t get it. Shep took a moment to dream of what it would have been like had Ash come along for the Collectors. But that was a pipe dream. This was reality. Cushy job or no, Ash was tough as nails. The Alliance had counted on that to keep her honest, but they should have known better. Shepard and she had spent for too many days under fire and nights getting drunk together to ever really be uncompromisable.

As Shep wandered through the halls, blindly disabling what had to be half the garrison, she mused that either Ash had really pulled out all of the stops, or Garrus had been passed the message as well. The message had been ‘Chernobyl’. It was a holdover from the SR1 days- when they worried about being captured and indoctrinated. The code system referred to different things- Chernobyl was captured and human trusted. So Garrus naturally would have turned to the other human still alive- Ash.

* * *

For a prison break, especially one as high security as this one, it was far too easy. Ask wasn’t sure if they were just that good, in which case holy fuck she’d learned a lot, or something else was going on. Garrus was sequestered far enough away, watching the facility under his scope and a slightly less than legal tranquilizer rifle. He was the voice in her ear and the one working the computers. Ash was in her element, smashing through doors and patching him in at every security checkpoint. It was ridiculously easy, as almost every time she dropped a squad of guards, the next set would rush in and blindly follow her directions. She’d cleared out two entire security teams that way- sent them on a goose chase down by the main gate. While Ash could order a squad and knew how to handle the people in the base, Garrus knew human protocols. He knew their doctrine and priority system. Every time they plugged a breach somewhere, he’d pop the cork on another one. Fire alarms in the med bays, fuel contamination in the storage banks. His personal favorite, sewage pipe burst in the officer’s mess. Between the two of them, they had the entire prison running around blind, deaf, and dumb.

Ash had just routed the last of the hanger guards away when Shep popped out of the wall- literally- plaster dust and chunks of masonry falling off of her.

“Nice of you to join us skipper.” Ash said, fighting with the console to unlock the shuttle she wanted.

“You know me, had to pay a few visits, make sure to call in a few favors.” Shepard says, toggling the hanger doors.

“Gotcha!” Ash cheers as one of the shuttle’s door clicks and slides open.

“Archangel, we’ve got wings. Give us a heading.” Ash comms in as they climb into the shuttle and start her up.

“Rendezvous is here.” A set of coordinates are sent to them by code, and Ash punches them into her omnitool. “Stay safe.”

“You too bird brain.” Ash calls back, closing the channel.

* * *

35 minutes after the first smoke grenade went off, the prison was divested of its prime prisoner. The entire garrison was left confused and disoriented, half of them out with no clue what happened, the other half helpfully reporting so many conflicting orders that it made the inspector’s head hurt. The operation had been tight, brutal, and blindingly fast. If it hadn’t been their prison, he’d be impressed.

“Admiral, they’re gone. Orders?”

“Summarize what we do know and have it to me within the hour. Someone has to report this to FleetCom, and then the council.” Hackett sighs, rubbing above his eyes. “How do we tell them we lost the most dangerous soldier in the history of the citadel?” he asks rhetorically.

* * *

“So Ash, why this shuttle? It’s not the fastest, nor the most unremarkable.” Shepard comments.

“Well, it’s a bit of a story. The shuttle belongs- sorry, belonged- to Admiral Cotier. “

“What’d he do?” Shep asks.

“Tried to feel me up at the last military ball. I would have laid him out, but I was afraid I’d tear my dress.”

“So, you let him get away with it?” the commander asks, eyebrow askance.

Ash swivels in the pilot’s chair to look at the commander. “Dumped my drink on him and called for reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements?” Shepard asks.

“Three tables over was the vice commander of regulations. and his husband.”

“Ouch.” Shep winces.

“Shuttle indigo, this is Alliance Control. Come in, Indigo.” The comm buzzes.

“Flight control, this is Foxtrot Umpire 2, requesting clearance.” Ash says into the mic, spinning back to the front.

“Foxtrot Umpire, we don’t have you on the list.” Alliance control replied.

Ash winked and leaned closer to the mic, “Alliance Control, our Designee heard there was a prisoner breakout and he got nervous.”

“Hold on one moment, let me get you on radar.” They hear through the mic. Then fainter, “Is that Cotier’s shuttle? Damn that asshole is a coward. Alright, Foxtrot Umpire 2, you have clearance to buzz around for a bit. Don’t break atmosphere and you’ll be alright. Enjoy your flight. Alliance Control out.”

“And that’s how it’s done.” Ash says proudly, giving a victory spin. “We’ve got armor and guns for you at the rendezvous. Can I say that it’s good to have you back?”

“Ash, its good to be back. Thank you for busting me out.” Shep says back, squeezing the Lt’s arm.

“Skipper, I couldn’t leave you there. Not when you turned yourself in- when you proved me wrong. I still can’t believe the Council is denying the Reapers.”

“I think they’re just scared, Ash. The reapers are beyond anything they’ve ever considered. They’re the bogeyman to the entire rest of the council. And we’re still new here.”

“That doesn’t mean you stick your head in the sand!” Ashley snaps. She takes a few breaths and flicks a switch, starting the descent. “I wonder sometimes what grandad felt like, when he found the Turians. How things would be if he had stuck his head in the sand.”

“It wouldn’t have been good.” Shepard admits as the shuttle touches down in the Martian desert.

“Good thing he didn’t. It goes against everything they taught us in school to admit it, but we needed an ego check.” Ash cuts the engines and hits the door release, letting the side doors open to a familiar set of armor, that is currently red, but used to be blue.

“Garrus!” Shepard shouts, leaping from the shuttle to hug the Turian.

“Oof!” he grunts, catching the woman. “Missed me?” he teases.

“Of course.” Shep admits plainly.

“Hello, Shepard.” Liara says, stepping out of the shadows.

“Liara, what are you doing here?” Shep asks.

“It’s a long story. Believe me when I say that we might just stand a chance when the Reapers come. But first, we need to move you out of Human space.” The asari matron says.

“The Reapers take priority, don’t worry about getting me out.” Shepard argues.

“Not going to happen commander.” Liara says.

“Absolutely not.” Garrus adds.

“After all I did to get you out?” Ash grumbles.

“Commander, you are our greatest weapon against them, on nearly every level. You’re a symbol to unite under, with experience fighting them already. You know more than anyone else about how they operate and plan, plus you have the prothean cipher. Plus, from all reports, they’re scared of you Shepard. There’s an extranet smear campaign on you the likes I’ve never seen before-and from all directions and echelons. It has been rather foolish of them to reveal so many indoctrinated agents, but if they consider the work important enough to lose agents on.” Liara shrugs. “The galaxy needs you.”

“One step at a time, Doctor. We have two objectives in this system.” Garrus says, projecting a map from his omni-tool. “Getting you out of here alive is priority one. The other job is retrieving data liara found from the Mars Archives. If we attack both ends simultaneously…”

“It’ll make them split their focus.” Ash says, “I like it.”

"So, what’s the plan on transporting me away?” Shepard asks.

“I am.” Joker says, popping up on holo.

“Greetings, Commander.” EDI says.

“Nice to see you too. What do you mean you’re the plan Joker?” Shep asks.

“Well, I’m currently sitting on the Normandy in drydock.” He says, smiling.

“The technicians are unaware I’m a true AI.” EDI adds.

“So, we’re stealing the ship. But we need the clearance codes to get past the fleet defenses.” Joker says.

“And where would those be?” Shepard groans.

“The clearance codes for the Alliance are stored in two locations, one copy is on Arcturus Station, the other…” Liara says.

“Luna.” Ash finishes. “You ready to go home EDI?”

“Unknown. I do not remember my time on the earth’s moon.” She admits.

“Shep, you’re with me.” Liara says, grabbing the woman’s arm. “We’re breaking into the Mars base with Garrus.”

“But Ash-“ Shep protests.

“I’ll be fine skipper. I’m allowed to be there, remember. Plus, I have EDI. She’s literally inside their firewalls already. They just need someone with an ID to give the codes to.”

“Alright.” Shep says, “Where are we meeting?”

“There’s an old mining post in the asteroid belt, here. I stocked it with some supplies and fuel.” Liara indicates. “It’s best if we operate independently.”

“Good luck, Lt.” Shep whispers as Ash climbs back into her shuttle.

“Luck? She’s going for a leisurely stroll. We’re facing the hard mission.” Garrus says loudly. “We have to search an entire archive. Ugh, reading!”


End file.
